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Community impact

Leisure Transformation Programme

Connswater Community Greenway

Connswater Community Greenway is a £40 million investment into a new 9km linear park along the course of the Loop, Knock and Connswater Rivers in the east of the city. We funded the project along with the Big Lottery Fund, Department for Communities and Department for Infrastructure. The project was delivered by us, in partnership with EastSide Partnership.

Falls Park Masterplan

The Falls Park Masterplan, including work on the Whiterock Community Corridor, is our £6 million investment in Falls Park, City Cemetery and the surrounding area to provide better facilities for the local community and make the area more attractive, safe and welcoming for everyone.

Tropical Ravine

With support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Friends of Botanic Garden, we part-funded and delivered a £3.8 million restoration project at the Tropical Ravine in Botanic Gardens, to bring this fantastic building back to its Victorian splendour.

Alleygates

Over £900,000 has been invested into installing alleygates across the city. Alleygates help to reduce antisocial behaviour, burglaries and fear of crime. As well as making neighbourhoods feel safer, they're also helping to build a cleaner environment. This project was part funded by Building Successful Communities.

Leisure

A community garden is a shared project where people from all age groups, abilities and backgrounds come together to grow their own fruit, flowers and vegetables. We’ve invested £200,000 in these local neighbourhood facilities throughout Belfast.

Access to quality, fit-for-purpose outdoor space is essential in order to support the health and wellbeing of our residents. We are investing in a number of schemes to support this aim:

We manage and operate 128 sports pitches and playing fields in Belfast, spread across 28 sites throughout the city. We've invested £14.1 million to improve facilities at ten sites across Belfast as well as a further £1 million from the GAA.

Since 2015, we’ve invested over £2.3 million in an ongoing programme of work to refurbish playgrounds throughout the city.

Multi use games areas (MUGAs) can be used to play a variety of sports including soccer, basketball, netball and Gaelic football.

Attracting tourism

City Hall visitor exhibition

The City Hall visitor exhibition opened to the public in May 2017. This £1.3 million investment renovated the ground floor east wing of the building to facilitate the new tourist attraction, which takes visitors on a journey from the city’s past to present across six themed zones.

Belfast Zoo

Belfast Zoo is located on the Antrim Road in the north of the city. We part funded a new adventurer’s learning centre at the zoo. The £430,000 investment was also funded by the European Regional Development Fund, under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland.

Belfast Bikes

Belfast Bikes is a public bike share scheme for the city. We delivered this project and the initial capital funding of £230,000 came from the Department for Regional Development (now Department for Infrastructure).

Visit Belfast Welcome Centre

The Visit Belfast Welcome Centre is the main visitor information centre for the city. We invested £1.82m into the construction alongside funding from the European Regional Development Fund, under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland.

Fostering future investment

Belfast Waterfront

Belfast’s appeal as an international conference destination was boosted significantly through the £29.5 million expansion to Belfast Waterfront. We committed £11 million towards the development, £13.3 million was secured from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and £5.24 million came from Tourism NI.

Giant's Park

At 340 acres, Giant’s Park is the largest development site in the city. We want to transform this former landfill facility, which we own, into a safe, sustainable asset which attracts investors and creates jobs and other opportunities for our city. This project is part funded by Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund, under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland.

Innovation Factory

The Innovation Factory on Springfield Road is a dynamic, flexible and entrepreneurial hub for start-up businesses and expanding firms specialising in innovation, research and development and other creative solutions. This £9.1 million project was funded by Belfast City Council, Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland.